1. Field of the Invention
A radial or toroidal heat exchanger for use on a vehicle having a plurality of segmented and independent heat exchanger components is provided.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Vehicles such as construction, agricultural, and earth-moving equipment are generally equipped with flat radiators to provide for the cooling of operating fluids. A propeller type fan is usually employed to force air flow through these flat radiators in a somewhat inefficient manner. Occasionally, these flat radiators are compartmentalized or stacked face-to-face to accommodate the cooling of several different vehicle fluids.
The inefficiency of the flat radiator is grounded in the ralationships between the propeller fan which scribes a circular arc and the flat radiator which is rectangular. There are always portions of the radiator which receive no directed air flow. This is sometimes alleviated through the use of fan shrouds which do help but air flow across the flat radiator remains less than ideal.
A recent patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,866 to Ireland et al. (Apr. 2, 1974) presents an annular radiator that purports to alleviate some of the problems with the flat radiators. The annular radiator in that patent is multichambered with the chambers stacked annularly. Although this configuration may be an improvement over the prior art it none the less has shortcomings inherent in its design. For instance, ease of assembly, disassembly, substitution of cores and convertibility of cores are problems with the stacked annular radiator.
Also available in the prior art are rotary heat exchangers which are rapidly rotated such that the core itself generates air flow sufficient to enhance the heat exchange function. Although these units are quite efficient in operation they have heretofore unresolved fluid sealing problems that rule them out in widespread applications in vehicles.